Spring refuses to fully embrace itself so we continue to move at a snail’s pace out in the garden. But the plants are finally revealing their emerging foliage, almost out of fear.
Like Crataegus viridis (Hawthorn) ‘Winter King’:
And Betula nigra (River Birch):
Some of the deciduous shrubs have finally shown emerging foliage, like this Cornus sericea (Redtwig Dogwood):
And Physocarpus (Ninebark) ‘Diablo’:
Peonies unfurling at their own steady pace:
Speaking of this Viburnum. I count today as its first day of having “interest” and it will continue to do provide such “interest” all the way into early November. If you do the math, that is almost seven months of interest. And that means it is fantastic 7/12 of the year. And that translates to a 58% “interest” rate which I might just calculate for every plant I own and add it to the plant spreadsheet.
Just thought you should know that.
While we are at it, let’s enjoy the emerging foliage of the Astilbes:
And the buds on Fothergilla ‘Mount Airy’
And finally, the tulips I’ve successfully grown in containers (hand pats back):
Good stuff, right? Well now let’s move over to the not so good or potentially not so good.
My Amelanchier (Serviceberry) ‘Autumn Brilliance’ is blooming:
But from a larger view, eh:
But more importantly, or more annoyingly, we have some serious bare legs:
I understand that this is the nature of this tree, but this extreme? I need to work on this one in some way.
Do I worry about this? Tent caterpillars?
I’m all for letting nature take its course, but not at the expense of my beloved Crabapple tree. More to come.
And finally, I am already regretting not strongly pruning the Salix (Dappled Willow) ‘Hakuro Nishiki’ in early spring. That awesome variegation is missing:
Look at the same shrub from only two years ago:
Chalk it up to experience and a new task added to the 2015 ledger.
What a wonderful thing to find.
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About the dappled willow: those first leaves always come out green. The color comes along a bit later, then fades again in late summer. Just wait, your bush will be lovely in another month or so. I don’t prune mine at all (they are small trees at 4 years old) and they get beautiful coloring each year. A neighbor has a large tree-form one, probably 10 years old, which also always colors beautifully.
I also have an Amelanchier perhaps a year older than yours, multi-trunked like yours. I’ve kept just the strongest trunks, about 6, which have a lovely gnarled sort of growth habit, and limbed up to about the 2-foot point. This gives it a strong architectural shape at base, and lots of branching and filling in up above. Perhaps if you take out the weaker trunks of your bush, the energy will go into fattening up the remaining ones, and producing more fullness up top. That and some patience might do the job 🙂
Love the plant interest rate calculations! Can you provide a screenshot of your plant spreadsheet? It would be nice to see what’s working for you. Currently, “keeping a record” means throwing the plant tag in a drawer with everything else that has lived and died and gotten kicked out of my garden over the last 4 years.
As a data nerd, I love the idea of a plant interest rate. I may borrow the idea.
Clean up the tent caterpillar nest now, and dispose of it.
You could probably create an entire website dedicated to plant interest rates. I love seeing all the spring blooms – we’ve already moved ahead into summer in SoCal.